There are three things I learnt quite quickly when taking Ferrari’s F2012 Formula One car around Monza recently.
Firstly, you need a left leg of steel to use the brakes effectively – the pedal is like pushing weights and requires some serious stomping. Not to mention that braking itself is almost non-existent until the discs and pads heat up to around 700 degrees!
Then there are the tyres, which may come out of cosy blankets but start losing temperature from the second they hit the cold asphalt. They rely on your right leg to get some heat into them, which means more grip.
There’s also that driving position. This, if like me you’re used to sitting a bit higher up, is the equivalent of sitting flat on the ground. Ride quality is obviously not a term associated with F1 cars, but once you hit your first apex and almost shatter your spine you start respecting just how glued you are to the track.
And here’s the most interesting part, I learnt all of this in a simulator.
But not just any simulator, this was Ferrari’s genuine F1 simulator in Modena used by the Ferrari Driver Academy. It’s the same piece of machinery in which driver Felipe Massa trained after his injury a few years ago, and is the same as the one you’ll find in Fernando Alonso’s lounge.
It’s especially handy when drivers have to learn to take on brand new circuits, or new cars for that matter, and features an original Ferrari chassis used during the 2009 Formula One season. It was made at the Ferrari factory in Maranello and, strictly speaking, is part of the F1 team’s equipment.
So no, this is not exactly Playstation 3 or Nintendo Wii. Outside of the real deal I reckon this is as close as you could get to piloting an F1 car.
We’re talking about a steering wheel that uses real F1 electronics (which comes from McLaren and is the official FIA-approved electronics used in the cars on the 2012 grid). The pedal layout is authentic with pressures and set-up signed off by both Ferrari team drivers. And the simulator itself runs F2012-modelled data which recreates, down to the sound, the 597kW, 18 000rpm engine.
Transferring this power-to-weight ratio into the R15-million simulator (the real car weighs 600kg) requires the use of some of the world’s most advanced modeling techniques. To replicate the movement of the F1 car, and the surface of the track, it uses state-of-the-art screens and graphics, and every type of tub movement (with steering feedback) you can imagine.
Which may all sound quite over the top, until you experience it.
As on a track I had to jump on the brakes a few times to get them to talk to me, and mashing the loud pedal resulted in immediate tyre spin - which I needed for grip. But that’s just the start, clipping the first apex was nothing short of violent, and I kid you not when I say I could feel the pebbles from the kitty litter against the tyres later on.
This thing is fine-tuned to the nth degree and slides, wriggles and turns like the best go-kart you’ve ever driven. And then there’s the screen, which through Monza’s first chicane had me just about car sick with its quick, bright and razor sharp visuals. I loved that I could feel oversteer with that back kicking out, that the tightening seatbelt gave a sensation of G-force, and that the paddle shifters were real with five blue lights on the steering wheel telling me when to change.
For Ferrari this is no toy.
Real track testing is limited by the FIA, as is wind tunnel use, but simulator use is unlimited and, driver training aside, teams love that exact conditions can be replicated to assess mechanical tweaks. So advanced is this machine that it can be fed with aerodynamic changes or used to calibrate various electronics.
Shell is even able to test the effects of its fuels and oils in the simulator, tweaking the composition for different tracks. Monza, for example, is a fast track requiring full throttle for 76 percent of a lap. We were told that the right type of oil keeping the engine cool can score you up to four kilowatts and save a tenth of a second per lap.
Linked to this simulator is basically the same car telemetry technology you see on your TV on race day, which monitors everything from oil and water temperatures to lap times and G-forces.
My best lap? Around 19 seconds slower than Alonso - but then I don’t have one of these at home, like he does!